Next story in Iran

Addressing thousands of people in this central city, he said Bush had set out to damage Iran but failed to halt its nuclear program and would not succeed in his goal of attacking the Islamic republic.

"This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. (Bush) made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target," Ahmadinejad said.

"I tell him ... your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran."

No options ruled outBush on Wednesday repeated his stance that no options were ruled out in trying to get Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said: "My first choice is to solve this diplomatically, but all options are on the table."

Bush, who has seven months left in office, said he won promises from fellow leaders in the European Union to tighten pressure on Tehran with more U.N. sanctions and possibly other penalties.

"In the past two, three years, they employed all their might, resorted to propaganda ... and sanctions. If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong.... With God's help, today we have achieved victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," he said.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its atomic program is aimed at using nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can both produce nuclear fuel and turn out the material needed for nuclear warheads.

Iran has not only continued enriching uranium, but says it has expanded its uranium enrichment program, installing more centrifuges used to enrich uranium.